Since 2004, GiannaLia Cogliandro Beyens is the Secretary General of the European network on cultural management and policy, ENCATC. She is also the administrator of the Thomassen mobility programme and serves on several boards. GiannaLia is an expert in EU affairs and international relations, with more than 30 years’ experience in advocacy, cultural policy, and strategic management, in the context of international cultural NGO. Since 1998, GiannaLia has also successfully designed, drafted, and managed a large number of EU cross-sectorial projects in the field of culture, education, and research.

Former Policy Officer of the Cultural Forum of EUROCITIES, GiannaLia was also Secretary General of the Association of the European Cities of Culture , AECC. Journalist since 1993, she started her career as Press & PR Officer for the N.A.T.O organisation in Rome. For the European Commission, she wrote 10 Reports on social European policy and a major study on the European Cities of Culture of the year 2000. Educated at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome, GiannaLia holds a Degree in Political Sciences - International Relations and two additional masters in European & International Career Studies, and a in European Constitution. Since 1993, GiannaLia is member of the Association of the Former trainees of the European Union.

Iphigenia Taxopoulou is a founding member and general secretary of the European theatre network mitos21. She's an associate partner of Julie’s Bicycle, the UK-based charity that mobilises the arts and culture to take action on climate change. She has worked in theatre as literary advisor, programming consultant and international projects manager in Greece and abroad for several years. She is an experienced sustainability consultant, lecturer and educator. She holds a degree in Philology & Modern Greek Studies from Aristotle University (Thessaloniki) and an MA in Cultural Management & Theatre Criticism from City University of London. She is the author of Sustainable Theatre: Theory. Context. Practice, published by Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama (May 2023). In 2025, she was named Knight (Chevalière) of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture.

Laura Noll is the Executive Education Lead in the Culture for the Planet project and Senior Researcher at the Center for Arts Management at ZHAW. Previously, Laura completed a PhD and Postdoc in Management at the University of St.Gallen (HSG). She founded a competence center for art market research at the HSG and initiated and supervised applied research projects with leading art institutions including Art Basel and Christie's. Her main research interests are the value and price of art and the future viability of art institutions. This is why she is committed to creating a pioneering sustainability programme for arts and culture.

Leticia Labaronne is Professor and Head of the Center for Arts Management at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) as well as Director of the executive Master programme in Cultural Management. She has co-created and co-leads the Culture for the Planet project. Leticia worked in the performing arts for over 10 years before joining academia. Originally from Argentina, she holds a BA in International Studies (UK), a MSc in Public and Nonprofit Management (Switzerland) and a PhD on Cultural Management (Germany). Her expertise extends to a wide range of topics related to the management of arts and cultural organizations, including new paths for financing and funding, performance measurement and evaluation. Since 2023, Leticia is Vice-President of ENCATC.

Marco Fiore is Policy and Project Manager at Michael Culture Association. He has a MA in European Cultural Policies from SciencesPo Paris and a MA in Ethics of AI. His work focuses on bringing the voice of the cultural sector into European policies, especially in digital contexts where he advocates for digital justice and ethics.